The young mother, Jacqueline Tarin, gave birth to her daughter at just 16 years old and Tarin said recreating the photo was a way to honor her parents and all they’ve done for her.

“I’ve had this photo ever since I was younger and I just kind of looked to it as an inspiration,” Tarin told InsideEdition.com. “I wanted to recreate it because at the end of the day, I graduated and my parents are so proud of me and I’m so proud of them and everything they’ve done for me.”

Tarin was nearly 2 years old when she was photographed on her father's shoulders as the original photo was taken. She said it was a funny experience to do it again, 16 years later, in her own cap and gown.

“Everyone was kind of staring at us when we were doing it, but Maddy was die-hard. She was gonna get that photo,” Jacqueline said. “It didn’t matter how many other photos we were going to take. She wanted to do it.”

Jacqueline said Tarin's upbringing was different than others around her because they were teen parents, but Jacqueline made sure she finished high school.

“It was tough," Jacqueline said. "I was pregnant at 15. I had her at 16. I was so small so the school really didn’t know until over the summer when I got big and I had her in September. I really didn’t miss any school. I missed maybe a few weeks and came right back."

Tarin posted the side-by-side photos on social media where they quickly went viral, garnering more than 76,000 retweets.

Jacqueline said looking back at the photo was amazing and showed the mom how far they’d come as a family.